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Rick Wakeman

Rick Wakeman has been one of Britains leading keyboard and synthesizer artistes for over 30 years. Rick became an international star through his globally successful group Yes and their string of huge selling albums. His regular appearances on Countdown have lead to a second career as a provocative regular on television, most notably on BBCs hit show Grumpy Old Men. He now hosts his own Radio show Planet Rock every Saturday morning on digital fm.

From the age of 7, Rick Wakeman was already learning the piano, and performing in school concerts. He passed every piano examination with distinction and proceeded to win countless music festivals. Always strongly supported by his parents, Rick spent his teenage years learning new instruments, and playing in local jazz and blues bands.

During his 'A' levels, as well as gigging with various local bands, Rick also found the time for BBC sessions, and as these became more demanding, his studies started to suffer. However, Rick managed to obtain a place at the Royal College of Music, but due to external commitments, he left in pursuit of a career on the music scene. Whilst at college he featured on David Bowie's Space Oddity and for the next three years, on over 2000 recordings with such artists as Cat Stevens, Black Sabbath, Lou Reed, Ozzy Osbourne and many, many more.

He joined the Strawbs in 1970 and after 2 albums, became part of the progressive rock band YES with whom he released 4 albums. Every single one of these went either gold or platinum in every country they were released in. He left YES in May 1974 to pursue a solo career, but had in the meantime been working on various solo projects.

In 1973, Rick composed a milestone in progressive rock Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and adaptation of the Jules Verne classic. This appeared in the top 10 of virtually every country in the world. After various solo projects including music for films, and around 100 concerts each year, Rick rejoined YES in 1976. During the 80's, Rick worked on numerous albums and recorded 1984 with lyrics by Tim Rice, featuring the vocals of Chaka Khan, and started to venture into the world of New Age music.

The classic YES line-up reformed in 1988 producing one album and a world-tour, both of which were huge successes world-wide - the Union Album sold 2 million copies. Rick continued on and off with YES as well as making plans for the major milestone in his career- January 18th 1999 would be the 25th anniversary of his Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Rick is widely regarded as the composer and performer who took classical and progressive rock to advanced levels.

Rick is now available for selected after dinner engagements. His humour and fabulous keyboard playing are suitable for conferences as well as dinners.

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